MANILA — Government-armed former militiamen accused of murder and banditry kidnapped more than 70 villagers and children Thursday from a southern Philippines village, demanding that charges be dropped against them before they would free the hostages.

The abductions raised fresh questions about the government’s long-standing policy of arming civilian volunteers to protect against insurgencies. The day before, 100 other militiamen in the south were added to the list of those accused of slaughtering civilians in the country’s worst political massacre.

Hours after the kidnapping Thursday, the gunmen freed 17 children following talks with a government negotiator.

They continued to hold 57 hostages, most of them women. Negotiations were to resume Friday morning outside three hilltop huts in the southern Philippines hinterland where the gunmen had holed up with their captives.

The 15 hostage-takers in San Martin hamlet, in Agusan del Sur province, are militiamen who had been dismissed and then turned to banditry and extortion, targeting mining and logging companies, said police Chief Superintendent Jaime Milla.

For decades, the Philippine government has armed civilian volunteers — often poorly trained and ill-disciplined — as a backup security force in areas with communist or Muslim insurgencies.

Human rights groups have called on the Philippines to stop arming civilians, saying the region is awash with weapons from the ongoing conflicts.
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At least 100 government militiamen are among 161 suspects in last month’s massacre of 57 people in an election convoy in Maguindanao province, on the opposite side of volatile Mindanao island.

Thursday’s kidnappers had been pursued by police attempting to serve arrest warrants on two members of the group, a regional police spokesman said.